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www.sdtimes.com
September 2021
SD Times
Analyst View BY BILL SWANTON
6 steps to upskill developers W
hen software engineering leaders need new skills, they often look to hire people who already have those skills. However, when it comes to modern cloud architectures and languages, those people are hard to find. Recent Gartner research has found that there are a high number of open positions for people with advanced development skills, but relatively few candidates per position. Software development leaders often write into the job description a long list of required skills, making candidates even harder to find. All these factors require organizations to offer higher salaries and delay critical work. To overcome the developer skills shortage, software engineering leaders need to upskill and reskill their existing employees and new hires. Software engineering leaders can use a six-step talent development program to upskill and reskill their developer teams.
Step 1: Identify skills needed now and later For example, lay out core skills relevant to the existing technological landscape and skills that will be required for emerging technologies and architectures. Identify aging systems or digital services to anticipate future needs and the likely enhancements. Collaborate with business leaders, product managers and solution architects to understand the future set of skills needed to modernize the product. Moreover, software engineering leaders can also ask their HR learning and development department to create a skills matrix for software engineering.
Step 2: Inventory current developer skills Before surveying employees to evaluate their skills and competencies, make sure to communicate the purpose of the exercise is to evaluate the organization’s capabilities, not compare employees. Employees should feel secure so that they don’t give prejudiced or biased responses. Also motivate developers to broaden their skills and roles by making reskilling and upskilling a part of the organization’s culture.
Step 3: Motivate employees to broaden their skills Shift performance discussions from “What have you done?” to “What have you learned?” Employees
should learn to identify and target skills (both techBill Swanton is a nical and managerial) that will be game-changers. Distinguished Research VP at Gartner, Inc. Three elements of motivation (based on “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,” by Daniel Pink) are key to talent development: • Autonomy: Avoid excessive interference; let your teams figure out the best way to get the job done and remove the roadblocks to the progress of employees. • Mastery: Ensure that employees receive recognition on mastering software developer skills — not just from managers, but also from peers. • Purpose: Make sure employees associate a sense of purpose with their work — does their work positively impact the organization’s growth and technological landscape?
Step 4: Accept skills but plan for upskilling Upskill existing developers in tandem with your search for new hires. Finding highly proficient individuals may be challenging, so be willing to hire people with a base level of skills and immediately create learning opportunities to ensure they become valuable assets for the organization. Prioritize qualities like collaborative mindset and adaptability when hiring entry-level employees.
Software engineering leaders need to upskill and reskill their existing employees and new hires.
Step 5: Create on-the-job learning opportunities When evaluating different development approaches, consider low-cost, less time-consuming on-the-job learning opportunities for developers. The idea is to put employees into dynamic environments where they can learn and apply new skills quickly. Peer connections and 360-degree feedback, along with group activities like hackathons, innovation labs, and lunch and learns, can build valuable knowledge sharing channels for new hires and old employees.
Step 6: Dedicate time to learning Learning and development programs should make the enterprise more productive in the long run, but for that to happen, you need to allocate time for learning amid a massive backlog of work. In a work week, a dedicated time window can be created for learning and cross-functional activities. z
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